Hard-Hitting, Clear-Headed Reviews of Libraries

Today I went to the library, and then I wrote about it. As I skulked around the stacks like a weirdo, taking photos of books and windows, I planned to complain about the lack of organization in the music section, how the only nod to alphabetic sorting is a grouping of everything by its first letter, so that it’s all a jumble, eight or nine stacks of J or whatever, but then when I got to the albums a librarian was sorting them all with the determined and undaunted grumbles of someone up against a hard but beatable challenge. Bless that woman. I still couldn’t find any of the albums I wanted to check out, but I’ll report back after my next attempt.

I will probably also carry this series of library reviews forward. Des Moines had a pretty unfortunate library system and then around 2005 or 2006 they built a new downtown library with free underground parking, a cafe, two fancypants levels with recliners that faced wide windows overlooking the lawn outside and, beyond that, downtown’s buildings. Their downtown branch went from a cramped and yellowed maze that looked like something from an old elementary school to something modern and airy and well-stocked.

I’m curious to check out the Minneapolis library system as well. The website does not inspire confidence, but I have high hopes.